LAHORE, Jan 13: Work on $400 million Light Rail Transit project is expected to begin in March with the laying of 34km rail track from Shahdara to Lahore airport’s new terminal complex.
The consortium of companies, which were awarded the contract to complete the project in August last year, has recently conducted the survey of the LRT route.
The project is expected to be completed in three phases by the end of 2004. The consortium comprising three companies —- Interglobe, Thinet International and Monolite —- are paying about 85 per cent of the total cost.
A 17-foot high rail track will be laid from the Lahore Bridge on the Ravi near Shahdara to Bhatti Chowk and then from Bhatti Chowk to the new airport terminal complex.
The system, called the Lahore Magno Express, will use the levitation magnetic technology for traction. It will have a complete computerized system and would be run without a driver.
A card system for in and out from the LME will be introduced. The total fare from one terminal to another will be Rs15. The average speed of the train will be 600km which will cover distance from Shahdara to the new airport in 31 minutes, reducing the average travelling time about one hour if travelled on a bus or a van.
The LME having capacity of 200 passengers will stop on every alternative stop in every five minutes. According to the survey report, about 26 train stops have been identified from Shahdara to the airport. Elevators along with stairs would be built, but to begin with only stairs would be built.
Without creating any problem for the existing traffic, it will take load of around 300,000 passengers a day.
TEPA officials told Dawnon Monday that the consortium would hire expertise on the project from abroad while the labour would be engaged from Pakistan.
They said the consortium would be responsible for looking after the project and bag income from it till 2014. Meanwhile, it (consortium) would have to train Pakistani officials for the job.
The officials claimed that the consortium had successfully laid 34km rail track in Shanghai and would complete the job within time. The officials said the transit rail would reduce the traffic and environmental problems of seven million dwellers of the city.
A Japanese firm JICA had conducted a thorough study on the LRT in 1997. The JICA and the government had reached the agreement as the former had to pay 80 per cent of the project and the remaining would have to contributed in kinds by the latter. The estimated cost of the project was about $500 million. But the project could not be translated into reality following the sanctions imposed on Pakistan as a result of its 1998’s nuclear tests.